Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sawtooth and the Big Mystery

Back in January I decided that I was going to sign up for the Sawtooth 100 miler. It was around February that I started telling people. At the time, September 9th seemed so far away, now it's nearly here. Gulp!

It's funny, I've been thinking about this race for well over nine months now and I still can't seem to get my head around what this race is, what it will be like. I know we start at 8am on Friday at Gooseberry. I know the race ends, 102.6 miles later, at Lutsen. I know it will hurt. A lot. But most of the rest is a mystery.

I assume it'll take me between 27 and 33 hours to complete. I assume I'll want to quit at some point. I assume I'll have moments of pure joy. But this unknown. This exploration into uncharted territory frightens me and excites me at the same time. What will it be like to hurt at 3am, barely able to lift my legs over the unending hills? What will it be like to cross that finish line? And that's why I signed up. To find out.

Sometimes, I think you just have to accept the unknown, to revel in the mystery and have the confidence that it will all work out. Usually, if you give it all you have, it WILL work out. And that is my other known factor in this. It's my trump card. I WILL give it all I have.